War zone: Large plumes of smoke billowing from the Syrian border town of Kobane following a coalition air strike targeting Islamic State militants.

But it may be a case of "resources and personnel creep". That is, Australia and its partners may find themselves having to commit increasing numbers of troops and money to ensure that the local forces are up to the task of the gritty work of taking back territory from the cancerous Islamic State. The Iraqi capability on the ground has always been the $64,000 question.

News that the United States would like Australia to contribute a force to train the Iraqis over the longer term beyond the immediate job of getting them back on their feet after the losses of June and July, comes as no great surprise.

US defence chief Martin Dempsey has hinted at the need for more coalition troops. Our own Chief of the Defence Force, Mark Binskin, told a Senate hearing last month: "Down the track there's no doubt there'll need to be work … done in developing the Iraqi security forces in a training sense."

More training is logical. But given the US spent nearly a decade with more than 100,000 troops in Iraq, a major component of which was training the 250,000-strong Iraqi military, the small numbers committed or flagged so far are unlikely to be the end of the story.